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Job 24

Job Complains of Violence on the Earth

¹“Since times are not hidden from the Almighty, Why do those who know Him see not His days?

²“Some remove landmarks; They seize flocks violently and feed on them;

³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; They take the widow’s ox as a pledge.

⁴They push the needy off the road; All the poor of the land are forced to hide.

⁵Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, They go out to their work, searching for food. The wilderness yields food for them and for their children.

⁶They gather their fodder in the field And glean in the vineyard of the wicked.

⁷They spend the night naked, without clothing, And have no covering in the cold.

⁸They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And huddle around the rock for want of shelter.

⁹“Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge from the poor.

¹⁰They cause the poor to go naked, without clothing; And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.

¹¹They press out oil within their walls, And tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst.

¹²The dying groan in the city, And the souls of the wounded cry out; Yet God does not charge them with wrong.

¹³“There are those who rebel against the light; They do not know its ways Nor abide in its paths.

¹⁴The murderer rises with the light; He kills the poor and needy; And in the night he is like a thief.

¹⁵The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Saying, ‘No eye will see me’; And he disguises his face.

¹⁶In the dark they break into houses Which they marked for themselves in the daytime; They do not know the light.

¹⁷For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death; If someone recognizes them, They are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

¹⁸“They should be swift on the face of the waters, Their portion should be cursed in the earth, So that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards.

¹⁹As drought and heat consume the snow waters, So the grave consumes those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb should forget him, The worm should feed sweetly on him; He should be remembered no more, And wickedness should be broken like a tree.

²¹For he preys on the barren who do not bear, And does no good for the widow.

²²“But God draws the mighty away with His power; He rises up, but no man is sure of life.

²³He gives them security, and they rely on it; Yet His eyes are on their ways.

²⁴They are exalted for a little while, Then they are gone. They are brought low; They are taken out of the way like all others; They dry out like the heads of grain.

²⁵“Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar, And make my speech worth nothing?”

Job 24 (NKJV)

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Job

Chapter 24

24 of 42